Micro Businesses

Dave Howell
Business for Beginners
micro-businesses – employing 0–9 people. Micro- businesses accounted for 32% of employment and 19% of turnover. In terms of business growth, women-owned micro businesses appear to be an increasing part of both the U.K. and U.S. economies.
The Czech Republic beats The United States and Indonesia to claim the title of country with the most micro-businesses per capita – with 89 micro-businesses for every thousand Czechs.
This is according to the Global Micro-Business Impact Report, released by Vistaprint. The new report investigates the impact micro-businesses have on the global economy, by combining and comparing the latest available data from research leaders such as The European Commission and OECD.
Whilst the UK ranks highly in entrepreneurship, micro-businesses contribute less to Gross Value Added (GVA) and employment compared to other countries.
Micro-businesses make up a fifth (20.4%) of the UK economy (measured in GVA), narrowly missing the global average of 20.5%, whilst Norway sees two-fifths (38.1%) of its GVA come from micro-businesses – the highest globally.
UK micro-businesses employ 17.3% of the British workforce, which is just above half the global average of 32.3%. Comparatively, Australia’s micro-businesses employ 44.5% of their workforce and Spain’s employ 41.1%.
Number of micro-businesses per 1000 people
- Czech Republic (89)
- Indonesia (86)
- United States of America (86)
- United Kingdom (81)
- Portugal (72)
- Slovakia (69)
- Iceland (68)
- Liechtenstein (67)
- Sweden (66)
- Paraguay (62)

In the U.K., there are almost 1.5 million women who are self- employed, and between 2008- 2011 they accounted for 80% of the newly self-employed population within the country.
Supporting existing micro businesses and those that will be created in the future is vital. Successive government have done little to support the small business community that continues to be the backbone of the UK’s economy.
With too much focus on tax the debate and action needs to take into consideration the particular needs of micro businesses. The Chancellor should take note that as we approach Brexit, the micro business community will be the foundation onto which the UK’s prosperity will be built after we leave the EU, whether this is with a hard or soft Brexit.
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